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Amid drought, Coachella Valley water use drops in April

Water use dropped across the Coachella Valley in April, although valley residents didn't come close to meeting the mandatory water cutbacks that Gov. Jerry Brown announced at the beginning of the month.

Water use dropped across the Coachella Valley in April, although valley residents didn't come close to meeting the impending mandatory cutbacks that Gov. Jerry Brown announced at the beginning of that month.

Overall, California residents reduced their water use by 13.5 percent in April, compared to April 2013. And several Coachella Valley water districts saw double-digit reductions, even before approving new restrictions on water use in response to Brown's executive order.

Coachella Valley Water District customers reduced their water use 14 percent, according to figures released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board. Desert Water Agency customers cut back by 7 percent.

In Coachella, Indio and Desert Hot Springs, residents cut back by 3 percent, 4 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Bermuda Dunes and La Quinta residents served by the tiny Myoma Dunes Mutual Water Company cut their use by 11 percent.

Desert Water Agency general manager Dave Luker said that while the agency appreciates what customers have done so far to conserve, "this is a whole new ballgame."

"The hot summer months are rapidly approaching, and we've got a 36 percent mandate and lot of work to do," Luker said in a statement. "To achieve additional reductions on top of our recent conservation gains, we need all desert residents to step up — even more than you already have."

Spurred by a record-low snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Brown announced California's first-ever mandatory water cutbacks April 1. Standing in a field that would usually be covered in snow, Brown called for Californians to reduce their water use by 25 percent, arguing that the state's historic drought requires us to fundamentally rethink how we use water.

(Photo: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The fact that April 2015 was slightly wetter and slightly cooler than April 2013 accounts for some of the reductions, officials said at Tuesday's meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board. But Californians have also worked hard to cut back, they said.

"Anecdotally, I think it's real effort," said Max Gomberg, a senior environmental scientist with the water board. "When they saw the governor out on that dry meadow, and saw what was in the executive order, they realized it was time to start stepping up."

Still, Coachella Valley residents ranked among the state's top water users in April.

Myoma Dunes had the third-highest per-capita water consumption in the state, out of 395 agencies that submitted data. The Coachella Valley Water District ranked 13th, and Indio ranked 36th.

Brown's mandatory cutbacks didn't take effect until June 1, so Coachella Valley water agencies still have time to convince customers to conserve before the agencies risk state fines as high as $10,000. And despite the relatively wet, cool April, they shouldn't expect the weather to make things easier going forward.

"What little snow accumulated through April, we lost that in the month of May," John Lehigh, who oversees operations for the State Water Project, said at Tuesday's meeting. "There is no runoff from snowpack at this point, basically."

To meet Brown's overall 25 percent mandate, the state water board is requiring different water agencies to cut back by different amounts, depending on how much water their customers use. Because Coachella Valley residents use so much water, several local water providers face 36 percent cutbacks — the highest tier.

But those water providers — the City of Indio, the Coachella Valley Water District, the Desert Water Agency and the Myoma Dunes Mutual Water Company — didn't come anywhere close to meeting their 36 percent targets in April. The Mission Springs Water District, which serves Desert Hot Springs, didn't come close to its 32 percent target, and the City of Coachella didn't come close to its 24 percent target.

Felicia Marcus, chair of the state water board, said that while California is moving in the right direction, "there are still too many lush landscapes where irrigation must be reduced."

"The real test will be what happens as we move into the hot and dry summer months, when we need to keep the sprinklers off as much as possible," Marcus said in a statement.

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Housing and grassy fairways cover this part of south La Quinta on April 15, 2015.(Photo: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

State officials have used 2013 figures as the baseline since they started monitoring water use more closely last summer.

Coachella Valley water agencies have taken new steps over the last two months to encourage conservation, limiting outdoor watering to certain times and instituting fines for customers who hose down their driveways or water within 48 hours after rainfall.

Only one local water provider, though, has heeded Brown's suggestion to raise prices for customers who use the most water. Coachella Valley Water District customers who don't reduce outdoor water use at least 36 percent below their personalized "water budgets" now face penalties ranging from $2.51 to $10.03 for every 100 cubic feet of excess consumption.

Several local water agencies have said that they shouldn't have to cut back quite so much, arguing that Coachella Valley residents use less water per capita than state regulators think. The valley's Census-based population figures, they've long insisted, don't reflect the tens of thousands of snowbirds who use water about half the year but don't officially live here.

Officials at the Desert Water Agency, for instance, have been trying to convince state officials to reduce their cutback target to 28 percent. Craig Ewing, president of the agency's board of directors, said last month that achieving a 36 percent cutback could be three to four times more expensive than achieving a 28 percent cutback.

The state water board is still considering more than 200 requests to adjust water use data, including requests to revise population figures, Gomberg said Tuesday. Water board staff expect to issue decisions by the end of the week.

"We're working through all of those modifications and the justifications that accompany them this week," Gomberg said. "We had hoped to have the tiers finalized by now, but we have such a large volume, and there are a number of submissions that really require follow-up."

Sammy Roth writes about energy and water for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.

Coachella Valley water use

California's cities and towns reduced their water use 13.5 percent in April, compared to April 2013. Across the state, average residential water use was 91 gallons per capita, per day.

Here's how the Coachella Valley's residential water use stacked up in April, in gallons per capita, per day (percent reduction in parentheses):